Depths and Heights
by deletedsystem32
Summary: [ABZÛ & Maximum Ride Crossover] The Diver's one wish is to fly—they know all about the ocean, but what about the land and the sky? When the Flock finds an island to hide out at, they and the Diver meet. Will the Flock fulfill the Diver's wish?
1. Chapter 1

**I apologize if anyone** **is out of character. It has been _literal years_ since I last read the Maximum Ride books, and I don't have them anymore.**

 **I also apologize if the lore in this first part doesn't add up; the storyline of ABZÛ was just** **_so freakin' vague._ It's my best guess.**

 **I am Not Good With Descriptions, so if you want to know what the characters look like, please just Google it ("abzu diver" and "maximum ride manga" on Google Images). I'm working on the description thing, but I had Sudden Inspiration™ for this and** **_had_ to get it out. It's roughly edited; there may be a few plot holes or things I missed, but this is a fanfiction, not a novel.**

 **Also, it's not obvious, but for those who don't know: the Diver is a robot.**

* * *

Long ago, an ancient civilization fell.

They lived peacefully at first, simply gathering the ocean's energy and making sure to return enough to keep the balance. One day, however, a being appeared. This being was called the Diver, and along with it came the Harvester. The Harvester's job was to gather the power of the ocean for the ancient civilization to harness, and the Diver kept it in check—they made sure that it didn't take too much energy. One day, however, the Diver went missing. The Harvester started to take too much energy from the ocean, gained sentience, and turned against the peaceful dwellers. It continued to take more and more energy.

Slowly, the ocean started to die.

Years later, the Diver reappeared. They were many, many years too late to save the civilization, but they _were_ in time to save the ocean. With the help of a friendly shark, the unlikely duo defeated the Harvester and restore the ocean to its former glory. No modern human knows of them, but the Diver still exists to this day.

They cannot talk, but they are a curious being—they know all about the ocean, but what about the land and the sky? One day, they found a small island. One free from people, but filled with small, furry creatures that would scamper up trees. Larger brown ones with long legs, white underbellies, and long, many-pointed protrusions coming from their heads that would run when they saw them. But the ones that the Diver loved the most were the brightly-colored feathered ones that sang in the morning and throughout the day and flew around the island.

Oh, how the Diver wished they could fly.

They would spend hours longingly watching the birds, either from the ocean or from a clearing among the trees. Soon the animals came to know the peaceful Diver, and no longer ran. The Diver discovered that the animals ate and what they liked to eat, and would collect seeds and berries for their smaller friends. They were delighted when a bird landed on their shoulder one day, chirping at them, and the Diver chirped softly back.

 _Oh, how they wished they could fly._

* * *

 **The Flock**

"Maaax!" Nudge whined. "We've been flying for hours, can't we take a break?"

The Flock was flying over the ocean after weeks of fighting and being on the run. They hadn't gotten a break in a long time.

"I don't know if you've noticed, Nudge, but we're _in the middle of the ocean._ I don't think we'll be seeing land any time soo-"

"Hey, I think I see an island up ahead!" Gazzy shouted over the wind.

" _I don't think we'll be seeing land any time soon!_ " Iggy mocked.

"HEY. _Watch it,_ " Max warned playfully.

They flew towards the island, grateful for a chance to take a break after running for _so_ long. They had stocked up on food and supplies the day before they took off, however, so that wasn't going to be a problem for a while.

As they neared the island, they realized that it was _small_ , probably only just over the size of several football fields.

"Small enough to not be on the map," Fang said. "We'll still have to be careful, though."

Circling the island once, they saw that there was a beach on one end, then it was mostly level, then it sloped sharply upwards, flattening out before the sharp drop of a cliff. The whole island was covered in trees, except for the beach, the grassy area before the cliff, and the occasional clearing in the island's forest.

Landing on the beach, they split into pairs to scout the island: Max would be with Angel, Iggy and Gazzy would be together, and Nudge and Fang were the final pair; they were all capable, but Max wanted adults accompanying the younger ones. ("We're not kids!" Gazzy had whined.)

Max had mouthed a silent "Sorry!" to Fang when no one was looking; the most talkative one had been paired with the _least_ talkative one.

They planned to meet up in a clearing they had seen just before the grassy area near the cliff face. "Yell if there's an emergency," Max had said. "Because we use only the most _refined_ of communication techniques," Gazzy had said in Max's voice, giggling at his petty revenge while Iggy laughed along with him.

* * *

It was near dusk when they all finally reached the meeting place.

Looking around, Max quickly realized that the trees in the area they were in had barely any low-hanging branches, and the ones they did have were flimsy and would _not_ hold any of their weight. So Fang gathered wood for a small fire (Iggy and Gazzy would have no problem lighting it), Max rationed out food, and Nudge and Angel sat near the edge of the cliff, watching the sunset.

"It's beautiful," Angel breathed. They hadn't really had the opportunity to watch a sunset, before - much less one over the ocean. All the areas they had been in had had trees or they were short on time and needed to _get out of here, now!_

"It really i- Hey, what's that?" Nudge pointed to a spot out in the ocean on the left. Angel turned to look. What appeared to be a head was bobbing up and down in the water, moved by the waves and blacked out by the sun behind it. It seemed to turn towards them, looked at them for a moment, then dove under the water, the silhouette of swim fins following them down.

"Was it just me, or did that look like a scuba diver?" Nudge asked.

"It definitely _looked_ like it, but I don't know—I couldn't read its thoughts," Angel said.

"Why would a scuba diver be all the way out here? There weren't any footprints or anything on land, but we definitely just saw something that sure looked human. It would have to come on land at _some_ point, wouldn't it?"

"If it's human, yes. If it's some sort of. . . _robot_ that was sent to follow us, then probably not. In any case, we need to tell the others."

Nudge and Angel got up and hurried into the clearing.

* * *

 **The Diver**

The Diver surfaced.

After watching the sunset for a few moments, they turned and saw two girls sitting near the edge of the cliff, one pointing at them. The Diver had seen the "wing people" earlier, but they didn't want the wing people to know about them just yet. They quickly dove back down, hoping that the girls didn't see them, though they knew that they had.

The wing people seemed like cautious beings to the Diver, whose suspicions were confirmed when they saw two of them flying overhead. They were deep enough that the wing people couldn't see them, but the Diver dove deeper, just in case.

* * *

 **The Flock**

Nudge finished her story:

". . .and Angel thinks it's not human! That it could be a robot sent to follow us!"

Max had just sighed deeply.

"Alright, who wants to come with me to fly over the place and look one more time?" she asked, looking at everyone gathered around her.

"I think it would be a good idea to have Angel go with you—she knows what this thing looks like. She can point it out, if it's there," Fang said.

"You're right. Good plan," said Max. She opened her mouth to ask Nudge if she wanted to go, but Nudge was in the middle of yawning. She closed her mouth. _There goes_ that _possibility._ She turned to Angel.

"You ready?"

"Mhm," Angel replied.

"Alright, then! Off we go."

* * *

They flew over the island and the surrounding ocean several times, scrutinizing it closely. After finding nothing, Max and Angel returned to the makeshift camp. The fire was made, and the rest of the Flock were sitting around it, talking quietly and anxiously awaiting the findings from the flight.

"We didn't find anything," Max said to the them. "But that doesn't mean there's nothing out there. Everyone will take turns keeping watch."

"I'll go first," said Fang. The rest of the Flock breathed a sigh of relief.

"Okay. Let's eat and then get to sleep!"

"Sleep sounds good," Nudge said.

"But eating sounds even better," Gazzy finished.

The Flock finished their meal, made sure that the campfire was out, and got as comfortable as they could. Fang stayed sitting up to keep watch, but, despite his best efforts to stay awake, fell asleep— _everyone_ was exhausted, including him.

As they slept, a curious figure made its way onto the beach.

* * *

 **The Diver**

The Diver stepped onto dry sand, though their body was still soaked and dripping with ocean water. They walked towards the island's forest, being careful not to step on any shells in case a hermit crab or some other sort of critter was living inside.

They carefully made their way along the path they had taken so many times to get to the cliff—it was a wonderful spot to dive from. The path was barely noticeable, though; the Diver had always been very careful to not harm the forest or the creatures who lived there. With the bright full moon shining through the trees, they had no need to activate their headlamp. So, barely making a sound, they stopped when they came across the camp. They were about fifteen feet away from the nearest sleeping wing person. The Diver recognized her as the one who had first pointed them out to her friend.

Not wanting to disturb their sleep, the Diver navigated back the way they had come. They eventually reached one of their favorite on-land meditation spots: a small clearing near the beach with a flat stone in the middle, raised a little bit off the ground. The topsoil was clear for about three feet all around the rock—almost as if this spot was _meant_ for the Diver. They sat down cross-legged on the stone and fell into a deep meditation for the night.

* * *

 **The Flock**

The members of the Flock woke up slowly from the best sleep they had had in _ages._ Everyone felt well-rested and ready to. . .well, there wasn't much to do on the island, and they weren't being chased (yet).

"Let's go to the beach!" Nudge said excitedly while Gazzy and Angel looked at Max with puppy dog eyes.

 _Sometimes I forget that Angel's just a little kid,_ Max thought.

"What about your clothes?"

"They'll dry!"

Max sighed.

"Alright, every grab your stuff, we're heading to the beach!"

The bird kids cheered. Gazzy high-fived Nudge, Angel squealed in excitement, Iggy smiled, and even Fang had a brighter expression. Everyone seemed so happy and carefree that Max could almost drop her guard. _Relaxing for just a little bit won't hurt anything,_ she thought.

So they all made their way to the beach, not noticing the very light footprints in the areas that were topsoil and not grass.

* * *

Just before the Flock reached the edge of the sand, Fang held his arm out to stop everyone and signaled for them to crouch down and be quiet. Peering through the bushes, they could see a figure standing ankle-deep in the water, facing away from them. It clearly wasn't human—its body was too angular, there was no seam of a wetsuit, and there were two black, conical. . . _somethings_ on the side of its helmet.

"Nudge, Angel, is that what you saw?" Max asked in a whisper.

"I think so!" Nudge replied in a louder whisper. "The head shape seems right, but I can't see if it has diving fins!"

"So what do we do, now?" Iggy whispered.

Before anyone could respond, a kind of chiming, chirping sound came from the figure, and a few seconds later, a shark's fin broke the surface of the water.

"What the hell…?" Max whispered in confusion.

She couldn't say more before she was interrupted by the figure wading out into the water, then diving underneath the waves—headed straight towards the shark. Gazzy, Nudge, and Angel gasped, while Fang quietly described what had just happened to Iggy.

"What? Are they _crazy?!_ " he said in a harsh whisper.

While everyone was distracted, Nudge whispered to Gazzy:

"Hey, Gazzy?"

"Yeah?"

"I don't want to wait here any longer, do you?"

"Nope!"

"Good thing, because I have a plan…"

* * *

Nudge told Gazzy what to do, and he acted quickly.

Gazzy leapt out of the bushes and ran as fast as he could to the water's edge, then as far as he could without being slowed down in the water too much. He waded to where his feet were safely touching the bottom and his head was still above water, all while yelling, "You'd better come and catch meee!"

Max only noticed what Gazzy was doing once he was in her line of sight and had started yelling; she had been. . . _entranced—j_ ust watching the shark and the diver _play._ She had never seen anything like it. She was, however, quickly snapped out of her reverie when she heard Gazzy's yell.

"Gazzy, get back here _right now!_ " she shouted, standing up.

Gazzy just swam farther out—now his feet weren't touching the bottom, and he had to tread water to keep his head above the waves. He stuck his tongue out, and Max shouted again.

"GAZZY! GET OUT OF THE WATER _NOW!_ "

Glancing over, Max and the rest saw the diver surface about 50 yards, with no sign of the shark.

"That's either a really, really good thing, or a really, really bad thing," she said.

"Which? The diver or the shark?" Angel asked.

"Both."

Fang kept filling Iggy in on what was happening out in the water.

* * *

Meanwhile, Gazzy initiated phase two of the plan. He pretended to look at the surface of the water, then made a scared face like there was something under the surface. He pretended to start trying to swim back, but feigned being pulled under, instead.

Max thought it was a prank at first—

"Gazzy? This isn't funny!"

—and she would be correct.

But when Gazzy didn't surface immediately, laughing and telling everyone how "he got them good," Max started to worry—there had been a _shark._ Little did she know that it wasn't a shark, but an undercurrent. Gazzy really was in trouble.

Nudge tried to remain calm.

"Guys, I'm going in—" Max started to say.

"But Max, there's a shark! What if you get eaten?" Angel said.

"It's a risk I'll have to take. No one in this family gets left behind, _ever._ "

"Max, hold on. Look," Fang said, pointing. They watched as the figure dove under and headed towards where Gazzy had last been seen.

* * *

Gazzy started to panic. He went under with the intention to surface a few seconds later and laugh at how worried they'd all been, but he realized that he couldn't. He'd been caught in an undercurrent, being swept away at alarming speeds and unable to reach the surface.

He opened his eyes, hoping to see where he was going, but all he could see was the sun shimmering faintly above him.

 _If only I could get up there!_

Gazzy tried and tried to swim, but the need to breathe was rapidly increasing. He closed his eyes, ready to just let the water take him where it would, wondering where he would go. _I'm sorry, guys._ He thought at the Flock, desperately hoping he wasn't out of Angel's mind-reading reach.

He exhaled, and the last thing he felt was the vague sense of an arm wrapping around his waist.

* * *

 **And that's that! All I need to do for Chapter 2 is type it up, so you can expect that relatively soon. Relatively.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey, everyone! I'm sorry this update took so long; I've been busy with some other stuff. But here we are!**

 **Please enjoy this final chapter!**

* * *

 **The Diver**

The Diver watched in horror as one of the younger wing people was pulled down—presumably by some creature. They wasted no time; they dove down immediately, using their echolocation to get a sense of where the winged boy was.

Realizing that he had been caught in an undercurrent, the Diver swam faster, boosting their speed as much as they were able to. Using their echolocation again, they finally had him in their sights. Using one last boost, they reached him just as he lost consciousness. He didn't have much time—they needed to get him to shore _now._ The Diver assumed that the other wing people would know what to do.

They boosted up and breached the surface, swimming as quickly as they could, keeping the boy's head above water. They swam for what seemed like an eternity.

Finally, _finally_ they reached the shore. Retracting their fins back into their feet, they jogged the last few yards of the shallow water holding the boy bridal style, then gently laid him down on the sand. They immediately stepped back, giving a worried chirp as the older winged girl placed her ear by the boy's nose and mouth. The Diver stepped back farther as she straddled the boy, and began to press on his chest in rhythm.

* * *

 **The Flock**

Everyone waited anxiously for the diver to surface. When it finally did, everyone was immensely relieved, though it didn't last for long once they realized that Gazzy was unconscious. They waited for what seemed like forever for the diver to swim back—even at its inhuman speeds.

The diver finally made it to shore, jogging up the last few yards. It gently set Gazzy down on the sand and made a worried chiming noise. No one noticed, but they stayed deathly silent as Max wasted no time checking for breathing.

"He's not breathing," she said, panic straining her voice. She immediately began CPR.

It didn't work.

Giving up, Max felt a hand on her shoulder. Tears streaming down her face, she looked up, expecting to see Fang or one of the Flock.

She did not expect to see the diver who had saved— _tried_ to save Gazzy. The diver made a chirp that seemed to say, "It's okay, I'm going to fix this." No one said anything as Max got up, but everyone was crying. _He didn't deserve this,_ Max thought. _He was just a kid! He—_

The diver knelt down, gently touching Gazzy's chest. The Flock looked on in amazement, confusion, and _hope_ as the diver then put both hands to _their_ chest, and, as they drew them away, a blue ball of _something_ formed. The Flock held their breath as the diver pushed it into Gazzy's chest with a look of fierce determination in their eyes.

A tense few seconds passed, and just when the Flock thought that the last resort had failed, Gazzy started coughing up water.

"G-Gazzy?" Max whispered.

He coughed up the last of it, sat up, and took a deep breath, his eyes wide.

"GAZZY!"

The diver quickly got up and stood back as Max dropped to her knees, hugging him and holding on for dear life as his breathing went back to normal.

"M-Max…?" he said hoarsely.

* * *

 **The Diver**

The pressing hadn't worked, and the Diver saw that the older wing girl was clearly heartbroken. They hated seeing anyone or anything in pain, and they hated seeing anyone or anything _die._

They put a hand on her shoulder, and tried to communicate that they were going to _fix_ this.

The older girl stood up as the Diver knelt down and gently put a hand to the boy's chest. The heartbeat was gone, but there was still life energy there—it just needed a little extra help to be able to start the body again.

They used the same energy that they had used to save the ocean; they pulled some out of their core and placed it into his chest. There was so little life there that it was an easy task, but the Diver remained just as determined to make this _work._

A few seconds passed, and the Diver knew that these people were relying on them. This _would_ work.

It _had_ to…

…And it _did._

A few seconds later, the boy started coughing up water, sitting up and gasping for breath. The winged people, who were all crying, seemed to be in shock, but the older girl yelled, "GAZZY!"—which, the Diver guessed, was his name—and quickly knelt down and gave him a hug. Knowing that they would probably like some space, the Diver stood up just as quickly and stepped back a few paces.

"M-Max…?" the boy— _Gazzy_ said in a hoarse voice.

* * *

 **The Flock**

The rest of the Flock were still crying, and Nudge was openly sobbing, but they were tears of happiness, now. Reluctantly, Max let him go, but held onto his shoulders as if she was afraid she'd lose him again. She smiled, eyes still watery.

"Gazzy, don't scare us like that again! If you die _one more time_ I'll bring you back just so I can kill you myself!" she said jokingly, smiling through the remainder of her tears. She had stopped crying—she had to be strong for her Flock, and there was no reason to cry, now. Gazzy was back, and the diver- _the diver!_

Max helped Gazzy stand up. He was actually looking pretty good for having _literally drowned_ a few minutes ago. _Was it—Was it whatever they did_ _…_ _?_ Max wondered as she helped Gazzy up, even though he insisted he didn't need it (and he really didn't).

The other members of the Flock rushed over to Gazzy, who seemed perfectly fine, now. He was even joking with a teary-eyed Nudge, who he was trying to get to not blame herself. Max slowly tore herself away from the post-near death experience reunion, and—still in shock over what had just happened—walked over to the diver, who looked like they didn't know quite what to do in this situation.

 _Wait, when did I start referring to them as "they"?_ she wondered. _They're not human._ _…_ _But then again, neither are we._

Max stood in front of the diver for a few moments, trying to figure out just what to think of them. _They saved one of our own, something usually only_ one of our own _would do._

They made a confused chirp, and Max made up her mind.

 _They_ are _one of our own._

She hugged the diver tightly, trying to convey just how thankful she was since she had never been good at "all that mushy stuff," as Gazzy had once called it. They, in return, just kind of. . .awkwardly patted her on the back. Max let go and smiled. _I'd consider that a success,_ she thought.

She beckoned them over to come meet the rest of the Flock, who were watching them with curious expressions.

"Alright, gang," she said. "This is. . . What's your name again? Do you _have_ a name?" she asked, turning to the diver, who immediately perked up and nodded. They appeared to focus for a moment, as if remembering something, and then:

"D- (click) -i- (low, short chirp) -ve-r! (mid-toned whistle, ending in a chirp)"

They looked at the group expectantly, but the Flock all looked dumbfounded—until Iggy remembered the ocean and put two and two together.

"…Diver?" he said tentatively, to which they nodded and chimed happily in confirmation.

"Iggy, what would we do without you?" Max said, putting a hand to her forehead in both exasperation and relief.

* * *

 **The Diver**

As the older wing girl—Max—approached, the Diver wasn't quite sure what to expect. They had saved Gazzy, and the rest of the wing people all _seemed_ happy, but the Diver hadn't really had any contact with beings other than ocean life and the animals on the island.

Max stood in front of the Diver for a moment, just looking at them with an unidentifiable expression on her face. They made a confused, hesitant chirp, trying to figure out what they should do, if anything. Max suddenly hugged the Diver almost as tightly as she had hugged Gazzy.

Not being used to physical contact, they just kind of awkwardly patted Max on the back, doing their best to not seem uncomfortable.

Max finally let go, smiled at them, and beckoned them over to where the rest of the wing people were standing, watching the exchange curiously.

"Alright, gang," she said. "This is. . . What's your name again? Do you _have_ a name?" she asked, turning to the Diver, who immediately perked up and nodded—they finally had a chance to see if their practice had paid off.

(The Diver could understand many languages, though they could speak none. They had spent time giving themselves names in various languages, based on what they did: dive. So, of course, "Diver" in English was a given. After they had figured out their "name" in that language, they would practice "saying" it through chirps, whistles, chimes, and clicks. Ironically, this is the same way parrots "speak": by altering the sounds that they can already make in pitch, tone, and length to resemble words.)

Focusing for a moment, the Diver tried to remember how they "said" their name in English.

"D- (click) -i- (low, short chirp) -ve-r! (mid-toned whistle, ending in a chirp)"

The Diver looked at the group expectantly. They all looked dumbfounded, until one of them said, "…Diver?" to which they nodded and chimed happily in confirmation.

"Iggy, what would we do without you?" Max said, putting a hand to her forehead in both exasperation and relief.

* * *

 **The Flock**

"Anyway, as I was saying!" Max said, getting everyone's attention once more. "Diver, here, since they saved one of our own, _is_ now one of our own! They are now an Honorary Member of the Flock. If you have any objections, speak now, or forever hold your peace!"

Max surveyed the group, watching them critically, but everyone just looked at each other, then cheered:

A "Congratulations!" from Angel.

A "Welcome to the Flock! We're all a really close-knit family but I think you'll fit in and you'll have a lot of fun and-" from Nudge.

A nod and a smile from Fang.

A "Welcome!" from Iggy.

And a hug and the most sincere "Thank you," that Gazzy had ever given.

"Great! Glad that's settled. Now, Diver, in accordance with these guidelines which I just made up on the spot, a new Honorary Member of the Flock who did us a huge, _huge_ favor, gets a favor in return—something that is, of course, in our power to actually _do._ So, what can we do for you?"

Everyone watched the Diver expectantly, but they only needed to think for a split second before they made up their mind.

The Diver pointed to themselves, then at the sky, then made a flapping, flying motion with their arms.

"You. . .you want to fly?" asked Max.

They nodded excitedly, clearly hoping that the Flock would be willing and able to do this.

"Well, it looks like you just picked the _one thing_ we're best at!" She then turned to Fang. "Fang, you're the strongest. You okay with this?"

"Anything for a member of the Flock," he said with a smile.

* * *

 **The Diver**

The Diver stood at the edge of the cliff, their arms out in a "T" shape and their eyes closed.

Fang had explained to them what was going to happen: they would stand at the edge of the cliff as they are now so Fang wouldn't have to struggle with getting both himself _and_ the Diver into the air. Fang would pick up speed before grabbing the Diver, fly up high, then dive down so they could hook their legs around his, allowing him to carry them more easily.

The Diver reviewed this plan in their head while they stood at the edge of the cliff. If they were being honest with themselves, they were actually kind of nervous about this. However, it wasn't long before they heard, "Here I come!" from above and behind them. The next thing they knew, they were climbing higher and higher into the sky.

"You're lighter than you look!" Fang said.

The Diver opened their eyes and looked down, letting out a surprised chirp at how high up they were. They looked up at Fang in panic.

"Keep calm! Think of this as a regular dive off the cliff, only you're not going to hit the water, you're going to _fly._ Now, remember to hook your legs around mine when I dive and keep them there. It will help me carry you.

They nodded and closed their eyes again as Fang started to drop, keeping them closed until they managed to do as they were instructed.

When they finally opened their eyes, they saw the water rushing up to meet them. A few moments before the Diver expected to hit the surface, the pair swooped back up into the air.

The Diver chirped happily as the rest of the flock joined them in the sky. Fang did all sorts of tricks—loop-de-loops, dives, spirals, and others for the Diver to enjoy.

And enjoy it they did. Letting out a long, happy whistle as they and the flock did another dive, they realized that their dream had come true—they were honest-to-goodness _flying._ They continued to chirp and chime and whistle with joy as they knew that now, having dove to the deepest depths, they were flying to the highest heights.

* * *

 **Whew, finished! I hope you all enjoyed the story, because I'm not sure how I feel about how it turned out. . .**


End file.
